Flying into the NW - Tullamore (1) 21/07/12

[willie reynolds]

Well here we go again, the first race of the young bird programme, with the NIPA in Tullamore, a distance of over 120 miles to most fanciers in the North West. Many fanciers, especially across the pond find it hard to believe that we start young inexperienced pigeons at such a distance, but when you’re stuck in the North West, you don’t really have many options if you want to race.

The first race saw the birds split into Sections, with the North West birds in Section H up first. The birds were released early at 7.30 am, which caught a few men out as many thought they would be released between 10 and 11 am. And although up on their own, returns were not great and the birds were well split and drifting in all day. The first batch of birds hit Derry at around 10.00 am, and from there it was fast trapping and clocking that was going to win the race. If anything sat out at all, the race was over.

On then to the club results, although at the time of writing the report, I didn’t have the result for Strabane and the Omagh velocities as you will see seem a bit low, although they may be correct as I mentioned before, things were a bit erratic on the day.
We will start this week with the Foyle club where the Maxwell’s reign supreme. However, this week it’s Paul junior who takes the honours with first and second positions while Paul senior has to be content with third. This is young Paul’s first race, and it could well be a Section win for him as well. It’s hard enough racing against one Maxwell, never mind the two of them. Well done again to Paul junior and don’t be too hard on the old man, he needs an odd win to keep his spirits up.
The full result then was 1st and 2nd Paul Maxwell Jnr, 1423, 1422, 3rd, 4th, 5th Paul Maxwell 1415, 1415, 1415.

Next, to the Maiden City, where that man Mc Laughlin is at it again. Pat picks up where he left off with the old bird’s and once again takes first position. He has already proved himself as the top old bird flyer this year in the club, and with a start like this in the young bird’s, he is already looking like the man to beat when it comes to young bird’s as well. Tullamore specialists, Coyle brothers take second and fifth with Mc Gettigan brothers in third. And, it’s good to see Tony Rodgers in the mix at last with a good fourth position.
The full result looks like this, 1st Pat Mc Laughlin 1409, 2nd and 5th Coyle Bros 1394, 3rd Mc Gettigan Bros 1391, 4th Tony Rodgers 1383.

A two horse race in the Derry and District this week sees Jim Ramsey and Kieran Reid fill all ten positions. Jim has a super race taking first and second while Kieran fills all the other positions on his own. We talked about trapping earlier; well here is a lesson on how it’s done.
The full result was 1st and 2nd Jim and Gary Ramsey 1420, 1420, 3rd to 10th Kieran and Bonnie Reid 1419, 1419, 1419.

On to the Rock now, where another new fancier takes the honours in his very first race. Jimmy Quigley is the man and just for good measure, he takes second spot as well. Pat Ward has a good race also with a third and a fifth, while Lexi Mc Closkey sneaks in to take fourth place.
The result was as follows, 1st and 2nd Jimmy Quigley 1284, 1254, 3rd and 5th Pat Ward 1184, 1095, and 4th Lexi Mc Closkey 1176.

To Limavady next, where again we have two men filling the result on their own. That man Witherow is at it again as well, taking four of the top five positions, while the ever present Willie Mc Ilmoyle gets in to take fourth.
The result looks like this, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Ronnie Witherow 1322, 1321, 1318, 1318, 4th Willie Mc Ilmoyle 1316.

Same story in the Londonderry club this week with Leo Flannagan taking four of the top five positions, with Noel Murray getting in to take fifth. Great flying from Leo, another man who will be hard to beat with young birds this year.
The result looks like this, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Leo Flannagan 1410, 1407, 1405, 1403, 5th Noel Murray 1397.

Up in Omagh this week, we have some strange velocities, with Trevor Finnegan taking first place on 1265 while next up we have Gary Mc Manus taking second, third and fourth on 756, 685 and 568. Filling the top five is Aaron Henry on 485.

As you can see from the results, the velocities were all over the place and as we said before, the returns were just as erratic, not just in the North West but all over it would seem.
billyknox@btinternet.com